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Friday, January 23, 2026

For much of the last year, staffers who were initially part of the Department of Government Efficiency effort improperly accessed and shared sensitive personal data on millions of Americans. The Trump administration hasn't been able to answer how much data is at risk, what it was used for or why its unprecedented efforts to consolidate data are needed.


President Donald Trump asked his supporters on Thursday if he should "try for a fourth term" amid the worst approval rating polls of his presidency. read more


Inflation ticked up to 2.8% November, moving further away from the Federal Reserve's target 2% mark, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports Thursday.


In November 2020, a freak wave appeared, lifting a lone buoy off the coast of British Columbia 17.6 meters (58 feet) high.


Thursday, January 22, 2026

The sonic weapon allegedly left soldiers bleeding from the nose and vomiting blood, as they struggled to stand read more


Comments

More from the article ...

... Those questions deepened last week, when the Social Security Administration said it discovered DOGE employees at the agency secretly and improperly shared sensitive personal data last year, but once again can't verify the extent of the violations.

The admission came in a court filing last Friday, Jan. 16, that made numerous corrections to testimony given by top agency officials last year in a lawsuit alleging that DOGE was illegally accessing Social Security data.

In the filing, Justice Department lawyers representing the Social Security Administration wrote that two SSA DOGE employees were referred to a federal watchdog to determine whether they violated a law barring government employees from using their job for political activity, known as the Hatch Act.

The unnamed employees secretly conferred with a political advocacy group about a request to match Social Security data with state voter rolls to "find evidence of voter fraud and to overturn election results in certain States," the filing said. It remains unclear whether any data actually went to this group.

"Based on its review of records obtained during or after October 2025, SSA identified communications, use of data, and other actions by the then-SSA DOGE Team that were potentially outside of SSA policy and/or noncompliant with the District Court's March 20, 2025, temporary restraining order," DOJ attorneys wrote.

DOGE team members also circumvented IT rules to improperly share data on outside servers, sent a password-protected file of private records to DOGE affiliates outside the agency and had the ability to see data even after a judge temporarily halted access.

In acknowledging the breaches, the Social Security Administration also repeatedly indicated it still has little knowledge of what data was shared and offers little insight into how those incidents occurred.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Social Security Administration have asked the two courts currently considering the case to incorporate the "brazen misconduct" documented in the corrected testimony. ...



@13 ... And when the MAGA electrical grid fails in Texas, we die here by the thousands. ...

From what I've been hearing on the news, the Texas power grid is expected to be under a lot of strain. Hopefully, it doesn't fail.


Texas officials say the state is ready, won't repeat 2021 catastrophe
wacotrib.com

... DALLAS " Nearly five years after Winter Storm Uri sparked widespread power outages and killed hundreds of Texans, officials and residents are once more girding for a round of severe winter weather that will blanket large parts of the state. ...

Officials don't expect widespread power outages, though Texans could still see local power outages if ice or falling tree branches knock out power lines. ...


@#2 ... Is this what the people of Gaza want for their land? ...

Or, should we just say "OK" to Pres Trump and his billionaire friends exploiting the region for their profit?

A "Two-State" solution seems to be quite needed of late ...

Two-state solution
en.wikipedia.org

... The two-state solution is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli"Palestinian conflict, by creating two states on the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine.

It is often contrasted with the one-state solution, which is the establishment a single state in former Mandatory Palestine with equal rights for all its inhabitants.

The two-state solution is supported by many countries and the Palestinian Authority.[1] Israel currently does not support the idea, though it has in the past.[2] ...


@#10 ... All the saber rattling was meant to distracted from the Epstein files ...

Mark Epstein: New autopsy report will prove brother Jeffrey was murdered (January 9, 2026)
www.newsnationnow.com

... When billionaire and convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York on Aug. 10, 2019, and pronounced dead soon after, it set off a million conspiracy theories -- and according to Epstein's brother Mark, those theories may just be right.

While the official cause of death was listed as "suicide by hanging," there were many odd "coincidences" that were too blatant to ignore, including:

- - - Epstein had been placed in a special housing unit but had been removed from suicide watch days earlier despite a prior incident in his cell.

- - - On the night of his death, the required 30-minute checks were not performed, and the two guards assigned to monitor his unit fell asleep and falsified records.

- - - Two surveillance cameras near his cell were claimed to be malfunctioning that night.

While the DOJ and FBI have reaffirmed the suicide determination and found no credible evidence of foul play, Epstein's lawyers and family hired independent pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who argued some physical findings could be more consistent with homicidal strangulation. ...


Trump Pulls Canadian Prime Minister's Invitation to Gaza Board of Peace'
www.newsweek.com

... President Donald Trump said that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's invitation for Canada to join the "Board of Peace" is withdrawn, in a post to Truth Social Thursday night.

The "Board of Peace," launched by Trump this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and intended to guide Gaza's transition out of war, has drawn mixed responses from allies.

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for additional information.
Why It Matters

Clarity on the decision surrounding Canada potentially affects humanitarian operations and diplomatic alignment around the U.S.-driven process for Gaza's reconstruction, where membership terms"including a draft provision offering permanent seats for $1 billion"have fueled questions about governance.

What To Know

In a post to Truth Social, Trump said,

"Dear Prime Minister Carney: Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada's joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time. Thank you for your attention to this matter! DONALD J. TRUMP PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"

Carney previously told reporters that he had agreed for Canada to join in principle, but details still needed to be resolved. ...


CBS News -- Bias and Credibility
mediabiasfactcheck.com

... Overall, we rate CBS News as Right-Center Biased in this update due to emerging editorial decisions and leadership influence under Bari Weiss that suggest a shift away from its historically left-center orientation.

Due to emerging evidence that CBS News is censoring content unfavorable to the government, we are downgrading its rating to Mostly Factual with Medium credibility, despite its historically strong sourcing, professional reporting, and lack of significant failed fact checks. ...


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